Under a pitch black sky and a cold breeze swirling around the H City, Caroline Young, along with the directors and other actors and actresses, was having a good time in the VIP room of a popular pub in the city. They were all enjoying the booze the pub was serving, and even Caroline let herself go all out with them to celebrate the smooth sailing of their new TV drama.

All of them were delighted, especially Caroline, as the ongoing TV drama they were working on was an adaptation of a famous novel with millions of fans. Meaning, that even with no or less effort in publicizing it, the drama would surely hit the box office, making the actors, actresses, and directors even more popular. Moreover, all of Caroline's co-workers in the play were big-time celebrities, even if it was her first TV series after signing a contract with Pleasure Entertainment. So, she would be dragged along to their level by this series, as her agent told her.

All their backs were laid back in their seats, booze in hand, enjoying the night, when Caroline's phone suddenly rang out. Upon excusing herself, she went out of the rowdy VIP room and picked up the call.

A moment later, Caroline was done talking with the caller and dropped the call. But when she turned around, she saw Lucien Smith holding a cup of honey water in his hand.

Lucien was entitled Best Actor at the recent Flower Awards and was the hero of the ongoing play. He was an exceptional and well-known actor, but unlike other famous celebrities, he was unpretentious.

This series was the second time Caroline and Lucien worked together, and they had numerous scenes together in this drama. So, after more than three months of shooting, Lucien and Caroline got along together and eventually became friends.

"I saw you drank a lot, so I asked the waiter to make honey water for you," Lucien explained before walking over to Caroline and handing her a cup of honey water. "Drink it now. It'll help you become sober," he added.

Appreciating his thoughtfulness, Caroline took the cup and expressed her gratitude, "Thank you."

Occasionally sipping the honey water, they went to the terrace and began to converse.

"You seem to be in a good mood today, huh?" Lucien remarked, gazing at the gleaming stars in the dark sky.

"Yeah, I'm glad to be in the drama," Caroline honestly answered, looking at the cup she was holding with a sweet smile on her lips.

Lucien propped his arms on the railing and gazed at Caroline with intense emotion in his eyes. He then said, "Me too."

Their chitchat lasted for several minutes before Caroline decided to go back to the VIP room, thinking that others might look for them.

Unexpectedly, as she was in her high heels and was also a bit tipsy, she accidentally missed her step on the short stairs when she was about to walk out of the terrace.

Fortunately, Lucien was watching her and quickly took action. He immediately grabbed her arm with his right hand before she stumbled.

"Be careful," Lucien said.

With his right hand on her arm, he supported her at her waist with his other hand, allowing their bodies to be only a few inches apart.

Amidst their thin distance, concern overflowed into Lucien. "Are you hurt?" he worriedly asked, looking down at Caroline and checking her for possible scratches.

But Caroline shook her head and said, "I'm fine, thank you."

"You are really drunk. Let's return to the room, and please, no more drinking," Lucien said. Then he held Caroline's shoulder and offered, "Let me support you."

Caroline had a high tolerance for alcohol, but she was surprisingly inebriated tonight because the liquor was too strong compared to other drinks she had tried, making her head spin and her vision blur.

Thus, on their way to the VIP room, she was staggering and kept falling into Lucien's arms, despite the latter's support.

As Lucien had all his attention on Caroline, they accidentally bumped into someone.

Upon looking up, Lucien saw a tanned man dressed in a black T-shirt, dungarees, and black hiking boots. Despite his body being wrapped up, it was clear that he was toned, giving him the appearance of an athlete.

But what Lucien didn't overlook was the man's expression, which was icy and clearly not one to be trifled with.

Seeing this, Lucien hurriedly apologized to him, "Sir, I'm sorry, she drank too much..."

But he hadn't finished his apology when Caroline groaned, "My head hurts."

Her dizziness consumed her entire being and worsened when they collided with someone. She now felt her head was about to split open.

"Who's that? Why did I bump into a hard surface?" Caroline asked as she hardly raised her head to see who was in front of them.

As she was tiddly, her vision was a bit hazy. But after several minutes of focusing her eyes on the man in front of her, her vision gradually improved, and she finally saw the man's face.

The second Caroline recognized that the man was Simon Johnson, her mind was immediately jolted awake, and her body straightened up.

Subconsciously, her feet took a step back, and her hand crept up Lucien's arm.

Simon, on the other hand, simply slid his hand into his pocket while expressionlessly staring at the two people in front of him. Slowly, his gaze was drawn to Caroline's hand on Lucien's arm, making him snort.

Caroline heard the derision in his snort, and her grip on Lucien's arm tightened unconsciously, alerting the latter.

Sensing something was up, Lucien frowned in bewilderment and looked at Simon and then Caroline. He didn't want to jump to a conclusion, so he asked, "Carol, do you know each other?"

'Carol?' Simon echoed in his mind.

It was obviously Lucien's endearment to Caroline, and Simon was not that dumb not to know it. With that thought, he couldn't help but sneer again in derision.

Caroline heard his sneer for the second time, and this time, she broke out in a cold sweat. After almost five years since she dumped Simon, she had never expected to see him again, even in her wildest dreams.

Caroline didn't want her life entangled with Simon's once again, so she clung to Lucien's arm and answered, "No, I don't know him. Let's go; others might be looking for us now."

With that, Caroline dragged Lucien over to the direction of their VIP room. And surprisingly, her drunkenness seemed to vanish as she walked straight as if she had not been tipsy earlier.

Meanwhile, Simon remained at his spot as he watched Caroline walk away, clinging to another man.

But instead of being consumed by exasperation, he was preoccupied with Caroline's slender body, which exuded elegance in every move. At first, Simon's gaze was on her exposed shoulders and back, revealed by her tube-style, backless silver-white dress. Then, a moment later, his gaze was drawn to her waist, swaying side to side with each step she took. But his eyes narrowed as he gazed at her calves in the end.

Simon was absorbed with Caroline’s disappearing figure when a man of the same height as him spoke up, jolting him out of his trance. “Simon, why are you standing here?” the man asked as he approached Simon and then patted him on the shoulder after reaching him.

Only then did Simon drift his gaze from Caroline to one of his close friends, Bradley Jones, who was now peering in the direction Simon was staring at a while ago.

Curious about what his friend was looking at, Bradley asked, “Who are you looking at? You’re totally obsessed.”

“Nothing, let’s go,” Simon answered, dropping off the topic, and turned around.

At last, Bradley remembered the welcome party for Simon. Resting his arm on the latter’s shoulder and grinning, he cheerfully said, “Anyway, you have to drink with us and enjoy a full-on night. Everyone misses you, dude.”

He then led Simon to their VIP room, where many of his long-time friends awaited him.

Just as Simon entered the room, everyone’s attention was drawn to him and showered him with greetings, making the room livelier.

“Simon, you are back! I can’t even remember the last time I saw you,” said Melvin Wright, one of Simon’s close friends for years.

Melvin strode over to Simon, wrapped his arm around Simon’s shoulder, and exclaimed, “I miss you so much, my love!”

Simon found his friend’s words nauseous, so he pushed Melvin away without affection and remarked, “Sorry, I’m not interested in men.”

Hearing his friend ridiculing him, Melvin complained, “You’re ruthless, man. We’ve been classmates since kindergarten, don’t you remember?”

However, Simon turned a deaf ear to Melvin’s complaint and sat on a sofa. It had been a long time since he had seen his friends, so they immediately began boozing as soon as he settled down.

As they enjoyed themselves, they didn’t forget to interview the celebrant. They first asked Simon how he had been in the past years and then asked about his future plans.

After clinking glasses with Simon, Bradley asked, “Are you still going to leave?”

Simon smiled casually at first and was about to open his mouth to answer, but before he could, Melvin said, “Don’t leave again, please. Until now, I can’t understand why you refused to inherit your family property and chose to be busy with that mobile hospital in the remote mountain areas...”

He stopped in the middle of his sentence as an idea dawned on him. “Hey, I knew it now! There’s a pretty woman you like in the mobile hospital. Am I right?” Melvin blurted out his hypothesis as he nudged Simon’s waist.

‘Pretty woman I like?’ Simon echoed in his head.

Out of the blue, a particular sexy figure flashed through his mind.

Remembering the exquisite body of that woman, Simon’s body heated up. He swallowed hard to get a grip of himself, but when he thought it was not enough, he quickly grabbed a glass full of whisky with ice and chugged it all at once. Just as he finished his whiskey, he heard a conversation.

“Hey, did you know there are artists next door? I’ve heard they’re having a party for their ongoing drama. I had a glimpse of a few of them earlier, and the female artists are stunning, dudes,” the man in a blue polo thrillingly said.

Simon’s grip on the glass tightened, nearly crashing the glass as he somehow had an idea of who his friend was talking about.

“Is Caroline Young one of them? I saw her at an event last time. She’s really breath-talking!” the other man in a red turtleneck tee said, confirming Simon’s hunch.

“Oh, how is she? Did you hook up with her? I heard lots of scandals about her private life. And I heard she was with...” the former hadn’t finished his sentence as the sound of shattered glass rang out in the entire room.

Simon couldn’t stand listening to them talking dirty about Caroline any longer, so he threw the glass on the floor, drawing everyone’s attention to himself.

“Si...Simon?” the man in blue polo stammered in shock.

“Don’t make these dirty jokes in front of me. It’s disgusting,” Simon reasoned, deadpanned, then stood up and left the room.

Melvin and Bradley knew Simon well among the others, so as they sensed something was up, they exchanged glances and then quickly followed Simon.

With that, everyone in the room felt the room’s temperature drop abruptly.

Simon was known for being irascible, but his reason this time was not something he would be upset about in the past, so the two people talking earlier were at a loss for words.

Simon, on the other hand, headed to the terrace, followed by his two close friends.

Finally, after minutes of chasing Simon, Melvin and Bradley caught up with him. Seeing Simon’s eyebrows furrowed, the two knew that the two men’s words earlier really got into him. Thus, Melvin tried to appease his friend’s exasperation. “Dude, just ignore them; they’re already drunk, so they’re talking nonsensically.”

Bradley then added, “He’s right. Besides, you just came back. You must be enjoying your night instead of getting mad over such things.”

“Don’t invite me to drink with those guys again,” Simon sparingly replied.

Noticing Simon’s emotion going better, Melvin simply noted in jest, “Got it, you are the boss.”

To pacify Simon more, Bradley apologized, “I’m sorry. I’m the one who put this party together for you and invited them despite knowing you don’t like women, and they’d undoubtedly talk about it there.”

With knitted brows, Simon asked, “What did you say?”

Catching sight of Simon’s furrowed brows, Bradley thought Simon was offended by his question, so he fidgety explained, “No, no. I mean, you’re aloof to women.”

Melvin chuckled as he agreed with Bradley, “Yeah. But seeing you so angry just now, I can’t help but think you liked Caroline.”

Hearing it, Simon’s expression, which had just softened, became stern again, and with a grim expression, he asked, “What are you talking about?”

They had just quelled Simon’s rage, so Melvin quickly defended himself and refuted not to trigger him again. “Well, it’s Caroline we’re talking about here. She’s gorgeous. So I don’t think any men dislike her.” But as realization dawned on him, he contradicted himself right away, saying, “On the second thought, you’ve been in remote mountain areas all year round, so you’re probably unaware of any entertainment news and have no idea who she is. Hmm... it makes sense now.”

However, instead of being pacified by Melvin’s explanation, the area’s temperature quickly dropped as Simon icily asked, “Oh, so you like her?”

Melvin didn’t sense the danger awaiting him and proudly responded, “Of course. Who doesn’t like a pretty woman like that? You will definitely fall in love with her if you meet her.”

“I’m not interested in her,” Simon briefly replied, which bewildered the two as they didn’t expect the irked Simon would only say five words.

Meanwhile, Caroline’s phone rang just as the party was over. She checked who the caller was first, and upon seeing it was her agent, Jana Lopez, she quickly picked it up.

“Hello?” she greeted on the phone.

“Hello, I’m at the underground parking lot; I’ll wait for you here, okay?” Jana informed.

“Okay, I’m already on my way,” Caroline replied before dropping the call.

With that, she and Lucien stepped into the elevator to go downstairs. They talked now and then, but Caroline had been preoccupied since she met Simon. After a few minutes, they were already at their destination, but she was in a trance to notice it. Therefore, when Caroline realized it and was about to step out, she was almost caught by the elevator door. Luckily, Lucien hurriedly pulled her out.

Noticing Caroline was not her usual self, Lucien couldn’t help but ask, “You seem distracted; what’s the matter?”

Caroline shook her head lightly and reasoned, “Nothing, I’m just drunk.”

Lucien seemed to buy it as he dropped off that topic and thoughtfully asked, “Where’s your agent’s car? Let me take you there.”

Caroline was about to turn down his offer when she caught sight of Simon and several people coming out of the elevator on the other side. And to worsen the situation, Simon also caught sight of her.

They were separated at a distance of about nine or ten feet, but it didn’t help Caroline not to feel his icy dagger-like gazes, making her break out in a cold sweat.

She was only snapped out of her stupor when Lucien repeated himself. “Carol? Come on; let’s go now to your agent’s car.”

Caroline forced a smile and nodded at Lucien. “Yeah, thank you.”

For no apparent reason, Lucien felt a warm hand touch his heart right after seeing Caroline’s sweet smile.

Much elated, he couldn’t restrain from complimenting her as they walked toward her agent’s car. “You look lovelier when you smile. You should smile more often.”

As he said that, they happened to pass by Simon, which the latter didn’t miss out on.

Suppressing the intense emotion that wanted to escape from his body, Simon balled his fists in his pockets.

Bradley also heard what Lucien had said. Knowing Melvin had a crush on Caroline, the former faced Melvin and made fun of him. “You’re so unlucky, man. Your love already had someone in her heart.”

Melvin also heard Lucien and saw the two walking side by side with his own two eyes, and they appeared to be a perfect match, so he felt blue. But his feelings were even more trampled when his friend said it aloud, crashing even the last glimmer of hope of ever being with her.

Since Bradley was busy teasing Melvin, who was lamenting his broken heart, they didn’t notice the change in Simon’s expression after hearing what Lucien and Bradley had said.

Continuing the chaffing, Bradley asked, “That man is Lucien Smith. Don’t you know him or even heard of him?”

“Is he that popular for me to know?” asked Melvin, dispirited.

Bradley was already laughing internally but managed not to and exclaimed, “Of course, he is! The survey even said that nine out of ten teenage girls are his fans.”

“With a famous and attractive man like him and a gorgeous rising star like Caroline, they make a perfect match, huh?” Bradley kept ragging, even touching his chin as if he was not doing it on purpose.

Suddenly, he was struck by a thought and soon blurted out his conclusion. “Oh, I suddenly remembered one of our friends mentioned earlier that some artists were having a party for their ongoing drama right next to our room. And from what I’ve heard, Caroline and Lucien are working together in that series. So, you know what I mean. They most likely fell in love while filming.”

“You know a lot about them, huh?” Simon spoke up out of nowhere, surprising Bradley and Melvin as he had been quiet for a long time and was not interested in such things, and now he suddenly joined the discussion.

“Why are you suddenly interested in artists?” Bradley asked, still quite shocked.

Upon recovering from the shock, Melvin smirked and teased Simon, “Come on, do you also like Caroline? She’s gorgeous like I told you, right? Do you believe me now?”

As the subject of mockery became him, Simon dismissed the topic as he sneered, “You really have bad taste.”

Melvin just laughed, but Bradley was rendered speechless as he felt Simon found Caroline displeasing. On second thought, Simon didn’t know Caroline personally, so it didn’t make sense.

Bradley was about to get an answer to his question from Simon, but the latter started to walk away and left them behind.

After minutes of walking, Simon caught sight of Caroline walking, and beside her was Lucien, whose arms rested on Caroline’s shoulders as he sent her to the car. Afterward, a woman got out of the car and welcomed Caroline. In his guess, the woman must be Caroline’s agent, but he noticed that she was not Caroline’s previous agent, which relieved him because her last agent was not treating her well.

Later, Simon saw Caroline smile and wave goodbye to Lucien, but the two hadn’t parted ways yet and had a long conversation in front of the car before they did. Anyone who would see them definitely assumed they were a couple.

Seeing that lovely view, Simon could only smile wryly as Caroline never showed him that side of her back when they were together. She just treated him as a pastime and then dumped him when she got bored with him. So, there was no way she would feel sorry for doing so.

Looking back on that bitter past, Simon’s eyes grew grimmer and colder as he stared at Caroline, who was in her agent’s car.

Meanwhile, Caroline felt sleepy as soon as she sat in the car due to exhaustion. So she snuggled down under a blanket and prepared to sleep. However, when she looked out the window, she noticed Simon was not far away.

Caroline hitched her breath and froze in her seat. Her hands clenched the blanket in agitation, even though she knew Simon couldn’t see her through the car’s heavily tinted window.

Fortunately, Jana saved her from flusters when she suddenly spoke. However, Caroline didn’t catch what her agent was saying, which the latter noticed, so she helplessly asked, “Did you hear what I just said?”

“What is it again?” Caroline asked, somewhat dazed.

Jana could only sigh deeply and repeat herself. “The event dinner for CR Jewelry will be held tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.”

“Am I required to attend?” Caroline innocently asked.

“It can’t be helped. You’re the event’s spokesperson. So, I contacted the stylist, and she will pick you up at noon tomorrow for your modeling assignment. Then our studio will issue your photos online so you can rest in the afternoon and prepare for the evening event.”

Hearing how hectic her schedule was, which she found uninteresting, Caroline could only reply, “Oh.”

Seeing right through her, Jana persuaded, “Don’t just say, ‘Oh.’ I’m telling you, this event is crucial. Many big shots will show up there. So, if you piqued their interest, you may be able to obtain additional endorsements.”

Caroline was exhausted and sleepy, so she ended their conversation simply by saying, “I see. I’m going to bed now.”

Afterward, she tucked herself up to her head and fell asleep.

At that time, Simon remained standing at his previous spot as he watched Jana’s car leave the parking lot and hit the road. That was when Melvin and Bradley caught up and found him staring at nothing again.

Nevertheless, since Simon’s driver had just dropped him off in H City that day, he didn’t have a car with him. Melvin soon realized this and offered him a ride since Simon’s house was along the way to the former’s.

On the way, Simon didn’t say anything or make a sound, prompting Melvin, sitting next to him in the back seat, to assume he was in a bad mood. Melvin wanted to complain to Simon about how the silence was killing him, but he couldn’t because a question consumed him.

‘Who made his hackles rise for him to be like this?’ Melvin pondered as he cast sidelong glances at Simon.

A few minutes later, the silence finally broke as Simon’s phone rang.

Simon picked up the call and heard his eldest brother, Hardy Johnson, say, “There will be a dinner party tomorrow evening. Come to my place, understand?”

“I’m not available tomorrow,” Simon reasoned.

But Hardy was unstirred by his younger brother’s rejection as he held the last card. “Do you know who the CR spokesperson is?” Hardy asked, arousing Simon’s interest.

Seconds had passed, but Simon had not responded and had not dropped the call as well. That was enough for Hardy to know that Simon was only hesitant to ask. Even so, he was not planning to tell him who the CR’s spokesperson was right away. Instead, he simply said, “You can check it after you hang up the phone. I’ll have someone pick you up tomorrow. Bye.”